Facing the Future with Facebook

Facebook is one of the best ways (if not the best) to connect with people you’ve lost track of, to stay in contact with family and friends around the globe, and to keep people up-to-date with your business. If you’re a writer, there are myriad ways to use Facebook to help you promote and get your name known as a writer.

One major way of using Facebook is creating a fan page. After all, you’re a published author (or you’re going to be one), and sooner or later, you’ll have fans. Once you’ve created it, you can invite all your friends and ask your friends to invite their friends. It’s an easy way to keep your readers in the know about what you’re doing without having to utilize a Yahoo Group or any other type group online.

Once you’ve created the Fan Page, you can advertise the page on Facebook. You set the budget so you stay in control of how much money you spend.

Another way is to use Facebook’s Event Calendar. Just click on Events and Create an Event. Once you’ve created the event, you can invite all of your friends. The event can be an online event or an in-person event. It’s a great way to invite people to your booksignings.

If you Twitter (and you should), then you should link Twitter and Facebook. It’s an easy way to keep your updates fresh. I use TweetDeck which keeps everything simple because you can integrate both Twitter and Facebook on multiple accounts.

Most of all, if you want to use Facebook to get your name out there, you need to get active. Join other fan pages and participate. Learn what the owners of those pages do to attract people. Set up quizzes, games, and other activities that will keep people coming back.

Don’t let your Facebook page languish, and don’t just use it for games! If you want to get known, Facebook is an excellent way to do it, but you have to be active with it. It can be more useful than a website and much more fun!